


Like Real People Do

by reyoflight (itslaurenmae)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Could be a fix-it, Domestic, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluffy, Force Dyad (Star Wars), Kinda Grey Reylo, Light-Hearted, Mentions of Reylo children, Post-Canon, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Post-TLJ, Softer ending where Ben lives and they're happy, Washing Dishes, What TRoS I don't know her, pre-tros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:55:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24343135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itslaurenmae/pseuds/reyoflight
Summary: Life hadn't been the same since the end of the First Order - most notably, because the former Supreme Leader was supposedly dead.This wasn't the case, however - he was alive and well, on Tattooine with his wife and his family.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 72





	Like Real People Do

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to another one-shot I wrote sometime in 2018 and never posted! 
> 
> From one errant note at the end of the draft, I think I was briefly inspired by Hozier's Like Real People Do to write Ben and Rey just trying to live a "normal" life after all they'd been through. 
> 
> This was definitely written post-TLJ and pre-TRoS, so it was not *intended* as a fix-it, but it could be viewed that way now. I was tempted to revise it and make it more of a post-TRoS fix-it, but have decided to just leave it as-is. 
> 
> Pretty fluffy. Features mentions of the Force Bond, children, living on Tattooine, feeling like a Dyad (before we had language for that) and doing chores together. Ends abruptly but I don't really have other ideas for it, so that's that. Enjoy!

There were so many things they were still learning about each other, even though the years were passing and they grew older.

Life hadn't been the same since the end of the First Order - most notably, because the former Supreme Leader was supposedly dead. This wasn't the case, however - he was alive and well, on Tattooine with his wife and his family. 

They'd dropped the names Solo and Skywalker, which wasn't a big deal for Rey, who'd never really had a last name, but was harder for Ben. Though he claimed to want to let the past die, he couldn't help but feel leftover attachment to the people who used to embody those powerful names. 

On days he felt regret, she hugged him from behind, while they looked out across their little homestead. They'd taken a very simple name, a common name. They'd wanted to keep their first names, but it was too risky. So those became secrets, too. 

Only a few people out there in the galaxy knew where they really were - Rey had insisted that they not disappear completely. Things were in Balance for now, but that wasn't a guarantee. The Force wasn't static - it was real, alive, dynamic; it fluctuated. And people aren't static either, there's always change and growth and life and death. 

Rey had never wanted a life in the public spotlight - having so much attention on her after spending all of her formative years in anonymity proved very stressful. Though Ben was by her side and supportive as always, she never felt completely herself out in the public eye, attending large political events or sitting still for hours in council sessions. It just wasn't for her. She was too wild- she needed the sunlight too much.

He didn't mind it as much, though. Ben had been perfect for politics, having spent his formative years learning about the Jedi, the Sith, the duality of man, and the tenuous dance of alliances. He was made for it, born for it - he had his father's charisma and his mother's mind. And while he was still formidable on and off the training ground as a fighter, he had an even more commanding presence in the Stateroom. 

He stood tall, without his mask, freed of the trappings of Kylo Ren. He was all clean lines and planes, no one could ignore it when he was in the room.

They made so much sense together, and even though they'd never tell their children that you weren't whole until you met your match, they secretly felt that way about each other - that the lives they'd lead before were shadowy and noncorporeal before they'd crashed into each other's worlds, minds, bodies. It was a gift, to feel Bound as they did. 

The Force Bond never stopped. As long as they were drawing breath, it seemed, the Force would have its way with them. They were powerful conduits of its will, open vessels, faithful servants. 

Legends would go on to say that the Force itself had created Rey and Ben entirely, that yes, they had human parents and human bodies and human upbringings, but they were made of the same stuff, for the same stuff, to the same stuff. 

Where he ended, she began. Theirs was a partnership unparalleled like any before. 

Sometime after the end of the First Order, they could feel the pull to the outer reaches of the galaxy - a place to rest, a place to _be_. That's when they left, adopted their false names, and moved to Tattooine. 

It seemed the most logical place to go - the homeland of Ben's Uncle and Rey's teacher, Luke Skywalker. The refuge of Obi-Wan, Ben’s namesake. A desert, familiar to Rey of Jakku. 

At least, for a little while. It just wasn't sustainable to live in a state of complete denial... it's how wars got started and people died. Rey didn't want to be a figurehead, even if she was The Last Jedi.

"I can't stand it," she said one afternoon, drying dishes as Ben washed, children napping soundly in the next room. "The way people look at me every time I enter a room. It's just... being seen is weird."

He hummed in acknowledgment but didn't look away from the task at hand. 

"I hear them whisper about me. The Last Jedi... like it's some kind of crown." She stacked a plate and reached for a clean mug to dry. "I don't like titles."

Ben turned his head to her, still scrubbing the pan. "You can't change what people will say or think about you, Rey."

"I know that," she said. "I'm just not sure I like everyone knowing about all me before I know them."

"Are you talking about Dameron?"

"Not just him, it's other people, too," she said, opening a cupboard. "He was just the first one that was all 'yeah, I know who you are' after Crait." She hung the mug on a hook and closed the cabinet door.

"He sounds exactly like that," Ben teased, and Rey playfully smacked his elbow with the end of her towel.

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah," Ben said, handing her the last plate to dry. "Yeah, I do. People have all kinds of opinions about me before they even meet me."

"How do you live with it?" she asked, earnest. She was just so transparent, and that endeared her to him. 

"Well," he said, turning off the faucet, "I have you. You keep me grounded." He dried his hands and flashed her a toothy grin. He could be so sappy, and she playfully, coyly rolled her eyes. Easy banter.

"And I know who I am. As long as I'm true to that, and true to you, I don't care what other people think about me." He leaned over her, taking the plate from her hand to stack in in the cupboard.

"Even though they call you Jedi Killer?" She looked away, drying her hands on the towel. She hated that people called him that.

"Even then." He shut the cabinet door and kissed her on the forehead. "That was Kylo Ren. He'll always be a part of me and my story. I'm not going to deny what he did, but I'm also not going to live the rest of my days slinking behind a shadow of a scared, lonely boy." 

He took the towel from her hands, folded it into a neat square, and set it on the counter. He sensed her anger. He lowered his head and lifted her chin so she could see his face. "Especially when you talk about hope."

"Not me," Rey responded, meeting his eyes. "That's Rose."

"Right," Ben said, winking. "What I'm trying to say is that if I'm still alive and breathing, then there is always time for me to be who I'm meant to be. I used to think that was one thing, and now I know it's not."

He let his hand fall and hopped up on the counter, legs dangling down. "I'm my own man now." He pulled her toward him, so she was standing between his knees, and tucked a fallen strand of hair behind Rey's ear. "I'm your man, now."

Rey smiled, closed-lipped, and breathed a sigh of relief. She had to crane her neck and stand to her tip-toes to loop her arms around his neck, but she didn't mind. He could be so sweet. "You're ridiculous, that's what you are," she said, kissing him quietly. 

"I know," he said, briefly resting his forehead against hers. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. His voice tickled. "And I don't care."

She giggled, pushing herself up further, arching her neck above his shoulder to whisper back to him. "I don't think I'm ever going to be like that." 

"That's fine, I don't need you to be.” He pulled her arms from around his neck, letting her drop back to her feet. He kept her hands in one of his, steadied them in front of his chest. "I didn't fall in love with Rey The Last Jedi.” He raised his other hand to her face and lifted her chin again so he could look at her. “I fell in love with Rey of Jakku. Same you." 

He ran his thumb across her cheekbone, and rested his forehead on the top of her head, still holding her hands to his chest. She breathed back and looked at the floor.

"I think you're right," she sighed. "About all of it. I've missed Jakku. You know, the days of just doing the things that were normal. Waking up, walking, searching. Thinking, singing, imagining things. I don't miss Unkhar, and I really don't miss the shitty food." 

She felt him smiling at her and wasn't disappointed when she looked back up to see him doing just that. He let go of her hands then. "It was all just quieter then. Simpler." She shrugged.

"That's why we're here," Ben said, pulling her closer to him by the shoulders. He kissed the crown of her head. "We're here so we can just be normal people for a while."

"I don't think you've ever been normal."

"Hey," he pulled back, hands on her shoulders, false hurt in his voice. "I know my parents were my parents, but I still had chores I did when I was growing up."

"Oh really?" She raised an eyebrow. "Like what? Combing your hair just right?" She raised her hands to wrap around his neck again, running her fingers through the back of his hair, growing long again, now.

"Obviously," he responded, shaking his fringe from his eyes. He cleared his throat ceremoniously. "I had to take the garbage out whenever it got full."

"Oooh, my strong man," she joked. He pulled her closer.

"And I helped cook."

"Thank goodness for that," Rey said. "All I ever learned to do was make that horrid ration bread. We'd be eating dirt if I was the one cooking."

"See? We'll be fine doing normal people things. I'll cook and read, you'll go out and find beautiful things to bring home - it's going to be wonderful." 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! You can find me on Tumblr @itslaurenmae


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